Railway-gate.



l. A. MAY.

nmwn am. AFPLICAHON HLED MAR. 15. IQHS.

Patented Mar. 2;), 1919.

EE? l Qwvenloa;

Jesse Al -y l. A. MAY.

RAILWAY GATE.

A PPLlCATION mu) mn.:5.1 s1s.

Patented Mar. 25,1919.

2 SHEETS SHEET 2.

31mm 1H 01:

"Jesse A .May

K M/news, i Q Q .is indicated at 2, intersecting the railroad crossing road for traiiic.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JESSE A; MAY, 0! SPRINGFIELD, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOB. OF ONEEIGH'I'H TO B. C.

Bo'r'ron'i AND one-mourn To .1. o.

MILTON, BOTH 0F HAUKVILLE, KENTUCKY, ONE- EIGHTH TO J. E. BROWN. 01" HAJBBODBBUBG, KENTUCKY, ORE-EIGHTH T0 J. '1.

SEEING, 0F CPBINGFIELD, KENTUCKY.

RAILWAY-GATE.

To all whom it may'concern:

' Be it known that I, Jesse A. MAY, a citizen of the United States .residing at Springfield, in the county of W shington and State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway Gates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railway gates and operating mechanism therefor, the object of the invention being to provide electrical operating means for closing the gates at a railway crossing on tllL approach of a train, the mechanism being so arranged that as the train nears the crossing the gates will be lowered to an proximately horizontal position and will re main down until the train has passed after which the gates will be raised to open the A further object of the invention is to rovide means to cause one of the gates to l e o erated by the other.

ith the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railway crossing'gate constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a detailed elevation of the same, partly in section.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the same at right angles to Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view showing the solenoid and its connection.

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the contact rail.

In the drawing the tracks of a railroad are indicated at 1 and a public street or road tracks. Near the street or road and at opposite sides of the railroad tracks are posts 34. Crossing gate arms 5 and 6 are re spectively pivotally mounted at the upper end of the posts "as at 7 and 8 and each gate arm is provided at its shorter end with a weight 9', the said weights being sufficient to normally raise the gate arms and hold them in an elevated position to clear and leave the public road or'street clear at the Specification of Letters Patent.

ma limb is, 191:. 8er1alFo.222,674.

Patented Mar. 25, 1919.

crossing. The gatearms 5 operate and con trol the gate arm-6, said gate arms being connected together by a cable 10 which passes under the railway track and passes under direction pulleys 11 which are mounted near the lower end of the posts. One end of the cable is attached to t e gate arm 5 at a point between the pivot inner end of the said gate arm. The other end of the cable is attached to the gate arm 6 at a point between the pivot Band the outer end of the said gate arm. Hence when the gate arm 5 is lowered its inner em in moving upwardly causes the cable to also lower the gate arm 6, as will be understood, both of the gate arms thus operating simultaneously and the gate arm 6 being actuated by the gate arm 5.

The gate arm 5 is connected by a link 12 to the armature 13 of a solenoid 14. The winding of the solenoid is connected to earth and also to one e d of the contact rail 14, said contact rail beih arranged between the track rails 1 and" eing of sufiicient length and extending across the roadway 2. In practice, the contactxr'ail is cross-sectionally triangular and is secured at suitable spaced points on the upper end of short posts 115, which posts are driven in the ground and serve to support the contact rail and also to insulate the same as will be understood.

Each locomotive is provided with a circuit closer fork 15, which is insulated as at 16, which is electrically connected, as at 17 to one Is of a battery or generator 18 carried y the locomotive, the other pole oi which is connected to the metal frame of the locomotiize and is hence grounded.- The cir- ..cuit closer fork is so arranged and located the winding of the solenoid, so that the sole- 7 and the noid is energized and the gate arm 5 lowered thereby and caused to extend across a road or street 2. Tho %ate arm 6 being connected to the ate arm by thecable, as hereinbefore ascribed, is also simultaneously lowered, so-that the crossin 1s rotected at both sides. Owing to the lengt of the contact rail the circuit remains closed and the gates are held in closed position until the train has safely passed the crossin As the contact or circuit closing fork eaves the contact rail, the electric circuit is broken, and thereupon the weights serve to automaticall raise the gate as will be understood. nxledtnc light and a signaling bell or annunciator 20 may lso be included in the electric circuit, to indicate by the li ht and also by the soundin of the bell, w en the gates are closed, an thus contribute to avoid accident at the crossings.

WhileI have hereinshown and described a preferred foim of my invention, I would have it understood that changes may be made in the form, proportion and construction of the several parts without departing from the spirit of my invention and within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention I claim'.-

In combination with a pair of railway crossing gates pivotally mounted for vertical movement, weights to raise the gates, a cable connecting the gates, the ends of the cable being attached to the respective gates at points spaced from opposite sides of the respective pivots of the ates so that one of the gates is lowered by t e other, a solenoid, a link connecting the armature of the solenoid to the lalat named gate, a contact rail extending across and beyond 0 posite sides of the crossing and being independent of and disconnected from the track rails and being electrically connected to the winding of the solenoid, and a train carried circuit closer to Contact with the contact rail and arranged in contact therewith by moving from end to end thereof.

JESSE A. MAY. 

